Neurosensory outcomes following permanent lingual nerve injury in surgical removal of mandibular third molars: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The preset systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate neurosensory outcomes following permanent lingual nerve injury in the surgical removal of mandibular third molars. The international databases Cochrane, Embase, and MEDLINE (PubMed and Ovid) were searched for pertinent keywords until January 2025. Eight studies were included, and their risk of bias was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Using a random effect model and limited maximum-likelihood techniques of 95 percent confidence intervals (CI), prevalence rates were employed as an effect size. Stata (version 17) was used for meta-analysis. The prevalence rate of somatosensory following lingual nerve injury after surgical removal of mandibular third molars was 5.58% (ES 5.58% 95% CI; 2.55%, 8.61%). The frequency of pain and gustatory was 36.78% and 3.52%, respectively. According to the present meta-analysis, the incidence rate of neurosensory outcomes is high after the surgical removal of mandibular third molars and following permanent lingual nerve injury.